England V West Indies Test Match Series 2020

West Indies profited from improved batting conditions on day 3. England toiled away, finally bowling them out for 318, the 114 run deficit was reduced to 99 after Burns & Sibley showed great application in seeing out 10 overs. West Indies batting contributed throughout the order, Brathwaithe & Dowrich both passed 50. Stokes finished with 4 wickets despite suffering pain from a toe problem. Anderson was impressive picking up 3 in unhelpful conditions, Bess bowled tidily, taking 2. Very little for England quickest bowlers ,with Wood taking the last wicket.
England may well have to bat 4 sessions to save this match.

Day 3 was a better one for the umpires. After 5 decisions were changed on review the day before, this time only 2 reviews were upheld.

If England lose they only got themselves to blame , that call.to bag on day one based purely on the stats man telling them that it will spin on day five so don't want to be batting then was the wrong one,
Stokes Should have used his eyes and seen that day one and two where going to be perfect for bowling , I would have liked to see England's fast bowlers on day two when the ball was moving in the air,
Also think the bowling line up was wrong as its to same needs more variety,

(11-07-2020 00:32 )William H Bonney Wrote:  Day 3 was a better one for the umpires. After 5 decisions were changed on review the day before, this time only 2 reviews were upheld.

Illingworth is a poor umpire, anyone who watches country cricket will now that most the time he never gives anyone out, I don't think I have ever seen him give a lbw at Taunton , the players all know he's a not outer and have to catch a side out when he's umpire, I am glad he's been shown up.on TV

(11-07-2020 10:44 )winsaw Wrote:  the players all know he's a not outer and have to catch a side out when he's umpire

This is a breakdown of the reviews made of Illingworth's decisions on the first 3 days. He's only had one lbw decision changed from not out to out.

On giving the batsman NOT OUT LBW:
2 reviews, 1 decision changed to out

On giving the batsman OUT LBW:
3 reviews, 2 decisions changed to not out

On giving the batsman NOT OUT CAUGHT:
1 review, 0 decisions changed

^^ exactly not good at all, in county game he is a not outer simple as that, there are many i think better than him, when ever he walks out you should hear the disappointment from the crowd as they know he will not give anything,
i would like to see him replaced by Neil Mallender for the next test best around the county game i think

^^ In the umpires defence, some were marginal decisions. Kettleborough is streets ahead of Illingworth, but he got a few wrong. I believe they have to pick from the 12 Elite Panel ICC umpires, so we only have the 4 English umpires to choose from given the new covid rules being applied for this series. Llong is ok, but Michael Gough has impressed me.

Whatever the rights or wrongs of the Stokes decision at the toss I believe England batted poorly in that first innings.
Too many soft dismissals

If England can fight back and set some sort of total for West Indies to chase then the notion of it being tough to bat last on days 4 and 5 could yet prove correct.
Time will tell.

For the sake of balance, here's a breakdown of the reviews made of Kettleborough's decisions on the first 3 days.

On giving the batsman NOT OUT LBW:
3 reviews, 3 decisions changed to out

On giving the batsman OUT LBW:
2 reviews, 1 decision changed to not out

On giving the batsman OUT CAUGHT:
1 review, 0 decisions changed

^^ I can remember one of the LBW decisions were he thought it was an inside so he gave it not out. When the replay showed that the batsman had hit his pat with his bat & it was overturned to out, Kettleborough was shown on the TV looking disappointed with himself & shacking his head. It's A tough job at the highest level under extreme scrutiny. I've got quite a few mates that umpire in club cricket & they tell me it can be quite challenging even at that level.
It has also been said that as well as players umpires have also lacked match practice.